The Elsass Family: 16 Weeks, Ourdoor Play, Four Wheeling and the Zoo.... Whew

16 Weeks

I am little late on posting these pictures. (I know, it's hard to believe!) At 16 weeks, I was definitely starting to feel better, thank goodness. I had an appointment at 16 Weeks 3 Days. Everything checked out great. Baby's heartbeat was just over 155bpm -- still going strong. We also got the results back from the genetic screening that we did. (More or less we did it just to get another ultrasound between 7 weeks and 20 weeks!!) Risks for any chromosomal defects went from 1 in 530+ to 1 in 10,000+, so that was GREAT news. One less thing to have to worry about now. My next weight gain is 0 lbs. Josh thinks that's weird, but I told him that I wasn't gaining weight, it was just shifting. Surely there will be weight gained... it's only a matter of time.

Baby Elsass #2
16 Weeks 0 Days

Jackson
17 Weeks 0 Days

Outdoor Play

Finally, the weather is starting to cooperate in NEO. It seems like an eternity since we got a few days to get outside and play (and days where I actually felt like being outside!) We got a few sunny days and Jackson LOVES playing outside. The sandbox is still a hit and he LOVES playing basketball. Here are some shots from the last two weeks of random outside time.

God love this little boy!!

Memorial Day Weekend
After a couple of weeks at home (which was nice), we spend part of Memorial Day weekend in Cincinnati. On Friday night, we had dinner with Josh's grandparents and afterwards, Mamawk took Jackson home and Josh and I stayed and played cards until after 11pm. Much past my bedtime, but it was really fun. On Saturday, we took Jackson to the zoo to see the baby animals. It was WAY more crowed than I anticipated. Not being an animal person, I couldn't understand why there were so many people there. Here are a few good shots from the trip. Jackson had a blast and totally passed out about the time we pulled out of the parking lot!

This was taken as we were leaving the zoo. Since I rarely have pictures of the two of us (because I am usually behind the camera) it was nice to get this. Jackson's face is covered in cherry icee (our snack). It took everything I had not to want to smack the snot out of these other people. You wouldn't believe was it took to get this shot. (And after 5 hours at the zoo, I had enough with people. I wasn't shocked Josh and Caitlin didn't come too!)

Jackson was really busy checking out all the animals. Here, I think he is looking at some tigers or cheetahs or something fast. It's hard to remember after 5 hours. I didn't get a shot of the animals in this one. Oh well. I wouldn't think he would care what he was looking at, but as I sit here and type this, he is asking me what he is doing. Whoops!

Jackson even tried out the petting zoo. At first, I don't think he was all that crazy about the goats, especially after one nearly pooped on his feet, but he did eventually get to pet one of them. He did NOT want to feed the animals. I think he was afraid they would bite him so I saved a few quarters. He also didn't get a brush to brush the goats, which I was also okay with. After the petting was done, Jackson got to wash his hands, which I think he was WAY more excited about than the actual petting of the animals. Go figure.

The giraffes were probably the coolest part of the zoo. There was a baby giraffe too. The "baby" was still over 9 feet tall and weighed over 550 pounds. That doesn't seem so small until you actually compare an adult giraffe to the baby giraffe. Here is a shot of two together. Jackson was really excited about them too. There was a mommy (pictured), daddy (who took off past us when we walked up) and the baby. These three were in the yard. In addition, there were two more giraffes which were not outside that Jackson says are the grandma and grandpa giraffes. If I remember correctly, the other two were new to the Cincinnati zoo and maybe hadn't been "introduced" to the other giraffes.

If we would have gotten over there just a few minutes early, the "daddy" giraffe probably could have licked Jackson's face. He was THAT close to the rail (which you can see Jackson sticking his hand through!)

Four-Wheeling

The weekend was pretty busy, but semi-relaxing all at the same time. My least favorite part... the four wheeling. I didn't even know the four-wheeler was working. Josh waited until I went inside for a minute and then he got it started. I came back out before he got Jackson on board with him. Needless to say, I wasn't crazy about this idea. Jackson seems WAY to little to be on four wheeler. BUT HE LOVED IT. Next time I will bring the bike helmet! I think Josh took it easy when he had Jackson on board, but if you are mom, you know how hard this was to watch (except for the giant smile on Jackson's face!)